Alaska reports 5 COVID-19 deaths, 833 cases and continued high hospitalizations Thursday

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Alaska’s hospitals stay stretched skinny as each day COVID-19 case counts and hospitalizations proceed to hover at persistently excessive ranges, state well being officers mentioned Thursday.

Alaska reported 5 extra COVID-19 deaths, 833 new instances and 221 folks hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Thursday. Because the begin of the pandemic, 695 Alaska residents and 26 nonresidents have died with the virus.

Thursday’s numbers continued a development of excessive instances, hospitalizations and deaths because the delta variant’s sharp rise over the summer season in Alaska. Hospitalizations of COVID-positive sufferers have reached new heights in latest weeks.

And whereas state-contracted well being care employees from out of state have helped relieve a few of the burden on Alaska’s hospitals, the barrage of sufferers continues.

“What we’ve been listening to from the hospitals is that whereas the staffing has elevated the variety of sufferers they’ve been in a position to take care of, there’s simply extra folks within the hospital, each COVID and non-COVID,” the state’s chief medical officer, Dr. Anne Zink, informed reporters Thursday.

Over 20% of individuals in Alaska’s hospitals have COVID-19, which is excessive for any illness, Zink mentioned, including that some hospitals within the state reported that fifty% to 60% of their sufferers are COVID-positive.

Tight hospital assets, together with mattress availability, proceed to plague hospitals. Many individuals are nonetheless spending time in emergency departments whereas ready for an intensive care unit mattress, a course of generally known as boarding.

And a few of Alaska’s hospitals have extra sufferers than ever, in response to the state’s director of public well being, Heidi Hedberg.

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Regardless of a nationwide drop in instances just lately, Alaska has frequently reported a excessive case price for a number of weeks after an all-time excessive in September. Alaska’s seven-day case price stays the very best amongst U.S. states, in response to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Circumstances actually haven’t been reducing,” state epidemiologist Dr. Joe McLaughlin mentioned throughout a name with reporters Thursday.

The state’s each day case tallies have as an alternative been degree for the previous six to eight weeks, he mentioned. Even with a slight seesaw sample, Alaska stays in a normal state of plateau.

Since folks might search hospital care days or even weeks after initially testing constructive, hospital statistics typically mirror individuals who grew to become sick earlier within the surge. Meaning hospitalizations and deaths reported every day aren’t anticipated to drop considerably till instances drop fairly a bit, McLaughlin mentioned.

About 8.9% of COVID-19 checks returned constructive outcomes primarily based on a seven-day rolling common Thursday, a quantity that’s come down considerably in latest days. Moreover, roughly 65% of eligible Alaskans had obtained their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine whereas 60.1% have been thought-about absolutely vaccinated.